Letter from Palestine, 16. Leaving Jericho.
18th December 2004
Dear friends!
The observant reader can see that I don’t send from banglahanne@hotmail.com. The reason is not that I don’t want to use it. I still want to be banglahanne, as you can see. I don’t like to switch between addresses. It is not identity problems, but a hotmail-problem which is the reason for today’s change. I can’t enter banglahanne@hotmail.com, and I have spent much of the last days being frustrated about that. Luckily I had saved the addresses of you English-speaking recipients, but the Norwegians are not all on my list anymore.
I have ended my stay in Jericho. After Christmas I will spend more time in Ramallah and Jerusalem. So I thought it was time for giving some attention to YWCA in Jericho in this letter. I have wondered about how important my attendance there has been. I have mainly done the same as the women working there, but perhaps not that effective. When I said goodbye this week, I got the feeling that it had meant something that I was together with them. “Are they sending another here now?” “When are you coming back?” ”Don’t forget us!” ”We need you, we love you!” were some of the comments I got. I don’t think the practical contribution has been the most important, but that somebody has been there and worked together with them, has shown that there is a solidarity out there, outside the checkpoint of Jericho.
In cooperation with the Save the Children, Jericho YWCA arranges trainings for the employees and other interested. A subject for the cooking trainings when I have been there has been pickles. Last week I joined them to a dairy and a meat factory in Jericho. The dairy was modern, with all processes in closed system. The cows were just outside the door, ready for milking morning and evening. In the dairy, we got lebaneh, concentrated yoghurt, and at the meat factory we got different kinds of sausages. It was a popular element of the training.
I have also had the chance to see where the herbs sold through the Good Earth-campaign are cultivated. The farmer cultivating these herbs sets an example. Ecological agriculture is not what you hear the most about in Palestine. But this farmer tries, and here YWCA buys spearmint, sage and thyme cultivated without harmful chemicals. The farmer wants to start an association for ecological agriculture and hopes that he in this way can create a bigger interest for taking care of the environment and the human health.
It has been the day of St Lucia / St Lucy since last letter, an important day in Scandinavia, 13th December. I haven’t experienced it so much in Norway the last years. But when being abroad the traditions are often observed more. I was invited for St Lucia-celebration at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem on Monday, and there I got the traditional cakes “lussekatter” and beautiful Lucia procession with nice songs. In Norway I am only used to one song, but here it was a whole concert with songs about St Lucia and Christmas. The evening ended with an evening prayer in the chapel, with reflections on Lucia memories from Sweden. In St George’s cathedral there was Thursday lessons and carols, a family service with Lucia procession. It was also an experience, with Josef and Mary first, then children in different sizes and different clothes. Before the procession came, Josef was coming to the front several times for his mother to help him with this difficult scarf on the head. A small girl in a too long white dress also made an impression as she walked around between the choir and the congregation. I was almost surprised that there were no accidents with the candles. Lucia also had real candles on her head, I have never experienced that in Norway, as the child of electricity I am. Sunday evening I also got a Lucia homily, specially addressed to me as a Scandinavian representative.
Christmas is coming closer also here. Friday we had Santa Barbara celebration here at YWCA in Jerusalem. It was then the Orthodox day for the saint, thirteen days earlier it was the Catholic day, because of the differences in their calendars, so I have got it twice. That is fine since I didn’t know the tradition from before. The most important is a sweet porridge like the one St Barbara gave to the poor. It is decorated for Christmas in Jerusalem, some people have started to say merry Christmas and I am counting the days till my father, brother Einar and sister Karoline will come on Tuesday.
Pre-Christmas greetings from Hanne.
Dear friends!
The observant reader can see that I don’t send from banglahanne@hotmail.com. The reason is not that I don’t want to use it. I still want to be banglahanne, as you can see. I don’t like to switch between addresses. It is not identity problems, but a hotmail-problem which is the reason for today’s change. I can’t enter banglahanne@hotmail.com, and I have spent much of the last days being frustrated about that. Luckily I had saved the addresses of you English-speaking recipients, but the Norwegians are not all on my list anymore.
I have ended my stay in Jericho. After Christmas I will spend more time in Ramallah and Jerusalem. So I thought it was time for giving some attention to YWCA in Jericho in this letter. I have wondered about how important my attendance there has been. I have mainly done the same as the women working there, but perhaps not that effective. When I said goodbye this week, I got the feeling that it had meant something that I was together with them. “Are they sending another here now?” “When are you coming back?” ”Don’t forget us!” ”We need you, we love you!” were some of the comments I got. I don’t think the practical contribution has been the most important, but that somebody has been there and worked together with them, has shown that there is a solidarity out there, outside the checkpoint of Jericho.
In cooperation with the Save the Children, Jericho YWCA arranges trainings for the employees and other interested. A subject for the cooking trainings when I have been there has been pickles. Last week I joined them to a dairy and a meat factory in Jericho. The dairy was modern, with all processes in closed system. The cows were just outside the door, ready for milking morning and evening. In the dairy, we got lebaneh, concentrated yoghurt, and at the meat factory we got different kinds of sausages. It was a popular element of the training.
I have also had the chance to see where the herbs sold through the Good Earth-campaign are cultivated. The farmer cultivating these herbs sets an example. Ecological agriculture is not what you hear the most about in Palestine. But this farmer tries, and here YWCA buys spearmint, sage and thyme cultivated without harmful chemicals. The farmer wants to start an association for ecological agriculture and hopes that he in this way can create a bigger interest for taking care of the environment and the human health.
It has been the day of St Lucia / St Lucy since last letter, an important day in Scandinavia, 13th December. I haven’t experienced it so much in Norway the last years. But when being abroad the traditions are often observed more. I was invited for St Lucia-celebration at the Swedish Theological Institute in Jerusalem on Monday, and there I got the traditional cakes “lussekatter” and beautiful Lucia procession with nice songs. In Norway I am only used to one song, but here it was a whole concert with songs about St Lucia and Christmas. The evening ended with an evening prayer in the chapel, with reflections on Lucia memories from Sweden. In St George’s cathedral there was Thursday lessons and carols, a family service with Lucia procession. It was also an experience, with Josef and Mary first, then children in different sizes and different clothes. Before the procession came, Josef was coming to the front several times for his mother to help him with this difficult scarf on the head. A small girl in a too long white dress also made an impression as she walked around between the choir and the congregation. I was almost surprised that there were no accidents with the candles. Lucia also had real candles on her head, I have never experienced that in Norway, as the child of electricity I am. Sunday evening I also got a Lucia homily, specially addressed to me as a Scandinavian representative.
Christmas is coming closer also here. Friday we had Santa Barbara celebration here at YWCA in Jerusalem. It was then the Orthodox day for the saint, thirteen days earlier it was the Catholic day, because of the differences in their calendars, so I have got it twice. That is fine since I didn’t know the tradition from before. The most important is a sweet porridge like the one St Barbara gave to the poor. It is decorated for Christmas in Jerusalem, some people have started to say merry Christmas and I am counting the days till my father, brother Einar and sister Karoline will come on Tuesday.
Pre-Christmas greetings from Hanne.
posted by Hanne at 2:53 PM
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